How candidates would handle issues regarding affordable housing, encouraging diversity in public service and the best way to integrate into the current council were chief among Wednesday night's questions.

When asked about how she would best integrate into the current City Council, candidate Chelsea Behanna emphasized her ability to assimilate.

"It's almost an ideal situation to come into a group that has norms set and not be the person that has to build that whole structure," Behanna said. "My first strategy would be to learn what the expectations were and find my spot, where my strengths are most needed and support the actions you set forth."

Whoever is appointed to fill Dowling's seat next week will only be guaranteed a spot until next year's regular election, though he or she can run for an additional term in the November 2017 election.

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Among the issues that have come to light in Lafayette in recent months is the lack of diversity in the city's public services. With a population of roughly 27,000 — 18 percent of which is Latino — residents have grown increasingly concerned with a perceived lack of representation in its departments.

"It's not as easy as making outreach and diversity training," candidate Annmarie Jensen said when asked how she would help encourage more diversity in public service. "It's very difficult, some of it is; young people are busy with their careers, we have to look at them and say what would it take, there are cultural differences between them and the way the rest of us operate. We need to talk to them and ask what they would want to be different so they would want to be part of it.

"We need to be intentional and that requires some staff time to say, 'what are we missing?'"

A large part of bringing more inclusivity to Lafayette resides in supporting the arts, candidate and former Lafayette mayor Chris Berry surmised.

"We're building an inclusive community," Berry said. "Some of the things we've been able to do have been successful. To me, a big part of what we can do moving forward is support the arts. It ties everyone together; when you celebrate diversity, art plays a big part."

In December, the Lafayette City Council approved an affordable-housing fee for residential developers that feed a city fund to supplement future projects. The fee of 30 cents a square foot
was placed in as a "mini strategy" to produce funding for affordable housing projects that would propel the city's "grand strategy" forward.

When asked how to create further affordable housing opportunities, candidate Marjorie Griek suggested more diverse development options could help foster opportunities.

"I think that in order to maintain the diversity that we so enjoy in the community, affordable housing is important to that," Griek said. "We can set aside areas for people to live or potentially try to integrate other communities that currently exist and develop affordable housing in Old Town Lafayette. Then you're engaging people and bringing them into the community more."

As of last year, Lafayette had 413 affordable housing units, including 257 rental units operated by Boulder County Housing Authority. The majority of the Housing Authority units were located at Josephine Commons, where rents started at $500, according to representatives from the agency.

As a tax increase for a citywide EcoPass is currently being weighed by Lafyette's council members, officials on Wednesday asked candidates how important they felt public transportation was to residents.

"It's hugely important," Griek said in response. "Along with the issues of climate change, there's the issue of access — to get from point A to point B without having to spend a lot of money or a lot of time, building that up and making it more robust is very important."

When Dowling announced his resignation plans last month, residents urged Lafayette leaders to conduct interviews for all applicants to provide a more open government.

Though officials only conducted an interview process to fill the seat Wednesday for seven of the applicants, the city's charter has allowed council members in the past substantial flexibility to appoint temporary members to council.

Council members will publicly deliberate, select a final candidate and officially appoint the new council member at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

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